India fears increase of children trafficked or forced into labor

Concerns are being raised that millions of poor and underprivileged children in India are at risk of being forced into child labor due to the coronavirus pandemic. Child welfare organisations in the country are sounding the alarm at a time when significant numbers of jobs have been lost in India’s informal sector during lockdowns. The fear is, children of out of work parents could be trafficked to fill the gap. The coronavirus crisis could erase decades of progress made in combating child labor.